Trip to the Past
by Tails.Cosmo
Summary: Leading up to Tails' wedding, Tails begins to feel guilty, but doesn't know why. To find out, Tails travels to his old home, the island Galent, where he met Sonic. Oneshot


Trip to the Past

The water was completely silent and still. The night sky above the ocean was cloudless under the moon was full. A few ripples went across the water, until a plane flew past causing waves to go through the water. The Tornado silently flew above the water; the only noise it made was a slight hum of the engine and the water forming small waves. In the cockpit sat a certain two-tailed fox. Of all the things he had done, he thought this would be the one he hated the most. Tails had risked his life for people that hated him and travelled to the ends of the universe to stop the Metarex. The woman he loved had placed her life on the line and it looked as if she wasn't going to make it. It was only by sheer luck that she survived. In her place was left a single seed that in less than a month grew into a giant rose bud that hadn't bloomed. He still remembered the memory as if it was yesterday. The bud leaves had opened up and inside was the girl of his dreams, Cosmo. One year has passed since she came back. One month ago, Tails had proposed to Cosmo and she had agreed. They were supposed to be married today, but something had kept nagging at Tails. They had put the wedding off a week so Tails could stop it. It was his guilt that was nagging him. At first he thought his guilt came from his close friend Cream. At first Tails was oblivious to it, be he soon found out that she loved him. Tails didn't want to break her heart, but neither was it her heart that he wanted. Tails had made peace with Cream and she had moved on, but something was still nagging at him. Only this morning had he remembered what it was. It was something that was a part of his life that he hated the most, his childhood. Tails had lived on a secluded island that not many people knew about, called Galent. Since he had two tails, he was always bullied. Only one fox, outside his family, was kind to him. Her name was Sarah.

As flew the plane, Tails thought of the many things Sarah was to him. He could only think of two words for her, Friend and Lifesaver. He also did have a crush on her at one point, but it didn't last. At first lifesaver seemed odd, but as Tails thought about it, it became clear why he had chosen that word. Because of all the abuse he received, Tails had become depressed. If Sarah didn't exist or wasn't his friend, he would have killed himself years ago. He had left Galent with Sonic without as much as a goodbye to anyone. In truth, he had ran away from home a few days before he met Sonic and a few people who bullied him had found him, but kept where he was a secret and continued to bully him.

To deal with his guilt, Tails had decided to go back to Galent and say the proper goodbye to Sarah that he didn't get to do all those years ago. He had to confront his past that he had been running from for so long. As the island came into view, Tails was still thinking of what he was going to say to her. Galent was a large island where there were lots of trees and not that many clearings for Tails to land. The Tornado flew up and above the island so no one could see him. There were two major differences that Tails saw since he had last been there. There was now a port in which large tourist ships came to and there was a large clearing with a village in it. At first Tails wondered if it was his village, but soon deduced that it was. Back when Tails was a child, there were trees covering Tails' village so it was hard to see the sky. Picking a clearing that was on the other side of the island, Tails slowly brought the Tornado to the ground. Making sure no one saw him, Tails quickly hopped out of the plane, using his twin tails to fly to the ground. Pulling out a black robe, Tails put it on so he was harder to see in the night. He then touched the side of the airplane with his hand. A glowing square around his hand appeared and suddenly the plane disappeared. Looking at his watch, Tails set an electronic marker to indicate where the Tornado was. Tails then set off into the forest to do what he had to do. Soon, Tails came to a wooden wall that looked like something out of a medieval film. Following it, Tails found an opening it the wall that was guarded by two foxes. Tails chuckled to himself. If you were from the island, special permits were required to be there or else you could be punished severely for it. Tails knew that if he tried to get through, there would be trouble. Walking back along the wall, Tails found a spot where they couldn't see him, spun his tails and flew over the wall. Landing on the other side, Tails had now had his first glimpse on how much the village he knew had changed.

When he lived here, there were small, wooden huts for each family but now the wooden huts were replaced with wooden two story houses. There was long dirt road between the houses that spanned the entire village and lamp posts along the sides. There weren't many people in the streets and no one had seen him, so he walked out into the street. Relying on his instincts, Tails stopped in front of a house. It wasn't unique in anyway shape or form and all the lights were out. His theory was that if all the houses were where the huts were and they belonged to the same people, this house would be his.

Checking to make sure no one was watching, Tails walked up to the door and pulled out two metal rods out of his robes pocket. Putting them into the key hole, Tails slowly opened the door, making sure it didn't squeak. It didn't. Tails could have easily spun his tails and flew up to the windows, but if someone saw him lock picking from a distance, it would look like he was using a key.

Silently walking into the house, Tails saw that the house had changed as much on the outside as it did on the inside. He could have sworn that it could have been a regular urban house in the country instead of being on a secluded island. Walking towards the staircase, Tails used his twin tails on each step before he stood on them to make sure they didn't creak. Making his way up without any noise, Tails saw four doors.

Opening the one closest to the stairs, Tails saw it was merely a bathroom. Opening the next door and peeking through, he saw an empty bed. Concluding it was a guest bedroom, Tails walked to next door, but stopped without opening it. He heard snoring coming from inside and knew it wouldn't be who it was who he was looking for because neither of his parents snored. Going to the final door, Tails found it locked. Once again pulling out his two lock picks, Tails started to work, but one fell out of his grasp and clanked against the floor. Quickly picking it up, Tails waited for any reaction to occur. He heard slow footsteps come from the door with the snoring.

As the door opened, Tails pulled the robe to hide himself. He heard the footsteps go towards the bathroom door and it opening. Risking a glance, Tails peeked his head out and saw that it was his brother, … Waiting for him to go back to bed, Tails silently waited and thought about what he remembered. His brother always picked on him, but Tails didn't mind, after all they were brothers. On the night Tails ran away, he thought that … had spotted him, but he didn't say anything. That only made Tails fasten his pace, but a few minutes later, he concluded that his brother didn't see him. As … went back into his room, Tails let out a sigh of relief and went back to picking the lock because he had to make sure his brother wasn't just sleeping over someone's house. Silently opening the door, Tails peeked at the bed. Unable to see who was who because of the darkness, Tails made out the large, muscular figure of his father and the seemingly skinny and frail mother compared to his dad. Pleased with his find, Tails closed the door and went outside without making a single noise.

Making sure the cost was clear; Tails walked further down the dirt track and stopped four houses away from his own. The house was practically the same as his house, wooden with two stories. Noting that no lights were on, Tails didn't take the precaution as before and flew up to the first window. Using the rods, Tails pried open the window and dropped down into an area just at the top of the staircase. Silently walking to each of the four doors, Tails concluded, without opening, that which door was the bathroom, the parents' bedroom, which one was the spare room and which one was Sarah's. Silently opening the door, he crept towards the bed and stopped next to the bedside table. He saw in the bed a fox with light brown fur. In his mind, thousands of memories Tails had of spending time with Sarah flash at once, from the first moment they met in a play date organized by their parents to the last time he saw her as the overlooked the ocean.

Tails wanted to start crying then and there, but only let a few tears through. He wanted to wake her up and talk to her, hug her and apologize, but knew that all hell would break loose if he did. Silently pulling out a pencil and piece of paper from his robe, Tails wrote down a brief message. 'I wish it could go back the way it was, us talking everyday by the sea without a care in the world, but I can only say this. Thank you for everything.' Tails signed the bottom of the paper with two tails, a way that they secretly passed notes to each other without anyone finding out who wrote them. Folding the paper of putting on the table, Tails silently walked back to the window and closed it, only making a slight bang that he wasn't afraid anyone would hear.

Sarah slowly stirred from her sleep and sat up in her bed. Realizing that it was night time, she let out a yawn and wondered why she woke up. She remembered a small bang and realized it was a window. Slowly turning towards the door, she suddenly saw a piece of paper folded on her bedside table. Opening it up, she read the contents, but didn't know who it was from. Reading the note again and again, Sarah's eyes widened and she slapped herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. When she was certain she wasn't dreaming, she cursed herself because she remembered that a year after he left, everyone, including herself, had forgotten about him. She heard shouting outside and quickly climbed out of bed and silently ran downstairs to see if it was her long-lost friend, Miles Prowler or Tails.

As Tails dropped to the ground, he suddenly realized something. He had had this feeling ever since he entered the village that someone had been following him, but he had ignored it. 'So how long have you been following me?' Tails called out. A fox walked out of the shadows and said 'Since the first house. Now, who are you and what are you doing here?' Tails recognized the fox. His name was Sam, and he was part of the group that constantly bullied him. 'Just someone visiting a friend' Tails replied. 'In the middle on the night? I would say you were stealing something' Sam said. Tails was lucky, he didn't want to be caught out and thanks to the robe covering his tails, Sam didn't know who he was. 'Now let's see your permits' Sam replied. 'What gives you the right to see my permits?' Tails shot back. 'I happen to by an Inforcer, see let's see those permits.' 'How in the world did Sam become an Inforcer?' Tails thought Inforcers were Galent's police officers and Sam was known for hard work. Tails went through all of the choices he had to get out of this, but only had one realistic choice. Take out Sam without making a sound. Tails swiftly ran right beside Sam and punched him in the stomach. Sam fell to his knees, clutching his stomach and lost consciousness. Tails went to run back to the Tornado, but barely got three steps before two other foxes surrounded him. He looked back to see a third helping Sam to his feet, who had somehow regained consciousness. Tails looked at the foxes that surrounded him. Like Sam, Tails knew who they were. The fox in front of him was called Dylan and he was the leader of the group. The fox behind him was called Chris. Tails knew he might be able to take one of them, but two was pushing it. 'Stand down and we may let you defend yourself in court' Chris said. 'Enough!' Dylan said and ran at Tails. Luckily, Chris hadn't ran to help him. Tails ducked a punch from Dylan and kneed him in the stomach and kicked him, though intended to hit a wall, and sent him through the window of a nearby house. Chris immediately ran at Tails, who replied by kicking him in the knee cap and hitting him with a swift uppercut. A few people came out of their homes to see what all the commotion was about. 'Great, a crowd!' Tails thought. The fox that had helped Sam now ran at Tails. This fox was obviously more agile than Chris or Dylan. Sending a few punches that almost hit Tails, the fox tripped him and went to punch him in the chest, but was thrown by Tails who had grabbed his leg. He didn't know why, but Tails noticed someone tripping in the crowd of foxes that were gathering. Mentally slapping himself, Tails remembered the smoke bombs he brought with him. Just as all three foxes ran at him, Tails threw one at the ground, covering the whole street in seconds. Using this moment, Tails ran into an alleyway and found the wooden fence, jumped it and ran off into the forest. At first Tails wanted to get back into the Tornado and fly home, but he wanted to go to one last place.

As Sarah ran outside, the first thing she noticed was a large crowd of people outside. She then looked towards the noise to see an Inforcer being thrown by someone in a black robe. Sarah couldn't see who it was, but she knew it was Tails. As she ran through the crowd, she tripped and fell onto the ground and as she looked up, a large cloud of smoke came out of nowhere. The smoke cleared after a few seconds to reveal the person was gone. The Inforcers looked around furiously and ran in different directions to look for him. 'If it is Tails, I know where he would be going' Sarah thought to herself. Getting off the ground, Sarah ran out of the village, despite protests and ran straight through the forest. There was a secluded cliff Sarah and Tails used to go to when they got any free time and Sarah just felt he would be there. As she arrived, Sarah noticed that there was no one there.

Tails reached the Cliffside within minutes. He stared straight out onto the ocean, wondering how life would be if he hadn't left Galent. As Tails went to leave, he heard a rustle from the forest and leapt off the cliff and flew close to the edge so they wouldn't see him. 'Tails are you here?' a voice came. Tails knew that voice anywhere. 'Tails, it's me Sarah. Please come out if you're here!' she said. Tails slowly flew up and landed on the edge of the cliff to see Sarah standing there. 'Tails?' Sarah asked. Tails reached up and pulled his hood back and said 'Yes.' 'Oh, Tails!' Sarah said, running towards Tails and hugging him. 'It's been a while, huh' he said. Sarah made a sobbing sound in return. Tails shifted his head to see that Sarah was crying. 'What's wrong?' Tails asked, alarmed. 'Nothing… these are… tears of joy from… seeing you… again' Sarah stuttered. They continued to hug for a few minutes while Sarah continued to cry. The broke their hug and sat on the edge with their legs dangling and talked like old times. Sarah told Tails what has happened to the town since it became open to the world and Tails told her how life was like for him. He told her about the Metarex and Cosmo. When they finished, they sat there and watched the ocean. 'You have to go, don't you?' Sarah asked more a statement than a question. 'Yes, soon' Tails replied. 'Can you at least give me this one?' Sarah asked. They both stood up and hugged each other. As they broke away, Sarah blushed and kissed Tails. Tails was both surprised and not surprised, not surprised by the fact she did it, but surprised by the fact she did it so suddenly, but kissed her back. They stayed there for a minute and broke the kiss. 'I guess this is goodbye then' Sarah said. 'Sadly, yes. If there was some way I could stay, then I would' Tails said. Sarah smiled and said 'Get going, or you never will.' 'Is that such a bad thing?' Tails asked, getting a giggle in reply. Tails walked past Sarah, slightly brushing her and walked away into the forest. Sarah reached into her pocket and pulled a piece of paper out. On it was a 10 digit number. Sarah smiled and turned around, but, as she suspected, Tails was gone. She looked up at the sky to see a plane go past and waved goodbye.

Tails wedding went off without a hitch and he and Cosmo were officially married. Tails often went to think about Sarah and the life he left behind. Every few days, there was a phone call to Tails from Sarah. At first Cosmo got suspicious when she answered the phone once, but Tails just said, 'She's an old friend' Then added, 'I've known her longer than Sonic.' Cosmo knew that they must have been close because she knew that Tails and Sonic went way back. They would spend long times talking, like the old days and even met up once. Tails obviously still loved Cosmo, but there wasn't at least one moment a day when his thoughts went to Sarah.

**Sorry if you didn't like the ending. I had it all planned out but had writer's block in the end. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!**


End file.
